


Opening old wounds

by kitbug



Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, dxun, not really - Freeform, reliving the good old days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 03:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20203018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitbug/pseuds/kitbug
Summary: The Exile would have preferred to never see Dxun again.





	Opening old wounds

She freezes as they crest the hill and find a freshly downed ship burning amidst the thick jungle foliage. A vice constricts around her chest and ice floods her veins as unbidden memories burst in like water through a failed dam. A dam that had been cracking under pressure since she landed on this forsaken moon.

_ Explosions overhead as the starfighters tangled with Mandalorian basilisks. _

_ “General, do you think we can—” _

_ Mined. The path was mined. They lost two foot soldiers discovering that, and she wasn’t certain three others would make it to sunset. _

_ “General, what should we—” _

_ A basilisk slams into the ground so close they can feel the impact. _

_ “General, what do you—” _

_ “General—” _

“General?”

Bao-dur’s tentative inquiry paired with the weight of his durasteel hand on her shoulder bring her to the present. Something solid she can use to pull herself to shore. She inhales slowly through her nose, forcing herself through the breathing exercises she hated when she was young. The Jedi mantra brings no peace with it, but it is still somehow comforting. Like a worn stuffed toy to a child. She drags a hand down her face and huffs out a laugh at herself. She’s ridiculous.   


At least Mira had gone scouting ahead, and wasn’t around to witness this. It’s different with Bao-dur. He understands what the War was like, as a soldier. His hand leaves her shoulder as her composure returns. Questions burn behind his eyes, but he’s far too courteous to voice to them without prompting.   


She’s not so polite.

“You didn’t fight here, right?” she asks, her voice just shy of unwavering. She starts towards the ship.   


“No,” he replies carefully after a moment, following. The  _ “but I heard about what happened,” _ lurks just beneath the surface.

“It was hell.” Too young, no combat experience, and Revan wanted her to  _ lead _ . To take Dxun by any means necessary. She’d done it, of course she’d done it. Revan was  _ never _ wrong. But the losses had been... staggering. In all the battles she’d fought during the Mandalorian Wars, only Malachor V outranked it in regret.

“When I heard Kavar was on Onderon, I half-thought he’d hid here because he thought I’d never come back to confront him.”

Bao-dur is quiet, measuring if she is looking for a response. She isn’t, not really.

“If Telos hadn’t happened the way it did… he’d have been right.”

He makes a noncommittal sound and begins examining the wreckage for anything they can use. She already knows it’s too far gone to ever fly again.

Mira ducks into the clearing, blasters drawn. “Found the owners of this ship. Looks like despite killing hundreds of them on both Nar Shadaa  _ and  _ G0-T0’s ship, the Zhugs aren’t quite extinct.”

“You have  _ got  _ to be kidding,” she groans and unholsters her lightsabers.

**Author's Note:**

> IDK, I was just thinking about Bao-Dur and all the different ways he says "General" and then this happened.
> 
> [Tumblargh is here](http://kittlesandbugs.tumblr.com) if you want to drop by and say hi.


End file.
